rainer



Jan. 5, 1943. v, INER 2,305,166

TIME CONTROLLED BANK Fiied Oct. 6, 1941 2 Sheets-Sheet 1 I INVENTOR) W %4 Z ,Kdlilfll Jan. 5, 1943. v. RAINER TIME CONTROLLED BANK Filed Oct. 6, 1941 2 Sheets-SheetZ IN V EN TOR.

WITNESSES:

ATTD R N EYE Patented Jan. 5, 1943 STTE 4 Claims.

This invention relates to a time controlled bank and has for an object to provide a bank having an annular series of seven compartments adapted to contain the money to be expended in a home or other place through the seven days ofthe week, each compartment being time controlled to be brought into position for removal of its contents on a respective day of the week, and at no other time.

A further object is toprovide a device of this character which may be controlled by an alarm clock and may be conveniently attached to an alarm clock without much alteration.

A further object is to provide a device of this character in which the escapement ratchet may be released electrically when the clock is an electric clock, ormay be released mechanically when the clock is a mechanical clock.

A further object is to provide apparatus of this character which will be formed of a few strong, simple and durable parts, which will be inexpensive to manufacture, and which will not easily get out of order.

With the above and other objects in View the invention consists of certain novel details of construction and combinations of parts hereinafter fully described and claimed, it being understood that various modifications may be resorted to within the scope of the appended claims without departing from the spirit or sacrificing any of the advantages of the invention.

In the accompanying drawings forminga part of this specification:

Figure 1 is a perspective view of a clock con- Figure 4 is a cross sectional view of the bank taken on the line 4-4 of Figure 3.

Figure 5 is a cross sectional view taken on the line 55 of Figure 3 showing the escapement and the winding ratchet.

Figure 6 is a rear end elevation of the shaft of the compartment wheel.

Figure '7 is a rear elevation of the bank with the cover broken away to expose the supporting bracket of the compartment wheel.

Figure 8 is a detail perspective view of the key inner wall for all of the compartments.

for winding the controlling springv of the compartment wheel.

Figure 9 is a diagrammatic view showing an electromagnetic control for the escapement.

Referring now to the drawings in which like characters of reference designate similar parts in the various views, Ill designates a conventional clock which may be of the alarm type and either mechanically or electrically operated, the present embodiment of the invention showing a me: chanical clock having a gear I i, see Figure 3, which rotates once every twenty-four hours and is equipped with a pin 25 for controlling the bank.

The bank comprises a daily allowance wheel l2 having circular side walls IS, a cylindrical wall l4, and a plurality of radially disposed division walls l5, see Figure 4, which extend from the cylindrical wall It to a cylinder it which forms an The compartments are each adapted to contain money in coin or bills sufiicient for a daily allowance and there are seven compartments corresponding to the seven days of the week.

' Each compartment is provided in the outer cylindrical wall it with a door 11, see Figure 3, hinged at one end to the outer cylindrical wall as shown at l8 and provided with a spring l9 on the hinge to normally hold the door closed. The door is provided with a struck out portion forming a finger hold 26 near the free end of the door to permit the door being manually opened when the respective compartment arrives at a predetermined dispensing position so that the daily allowance may be manually removed.

The wheel is supported by a bracket 2!, see Figure 7, having ahub 22 and radially disposed arms 23 provided with extensions 24, see Figure 3, which are'disposed exteriorly of the cylindrical wall It of the compartment wheel and are provided with respective feet 25 which are secured to the rear wall of the clock ill by screws 26 or other connectors. The hub 22 of the bracket is. disposed coaxial with the compartment wheel and receives the rear end of the compartment wheel shaft-21.

The shaft 2'! extends coaxial with the cylinder it of the compartment wheel and at the and opposite the hub 22 is rotatably mounted in a bearing socket 28 carried by a plate 29 which is secured to the rear wall of the clock ill by rivets 38 or other connectors. A helical spring 3| is sleeved on the shaft and is connected at one end to the shaft, and at the other end is connected to one of the circular side Walls 53 of, the compartment wheel. The spring is adapted to be wound up manually to rotate the compartment wheel through a step rotation each day in order to advance a predetermined compartment into delivery position. At the end of the seven day period the spring has been completely unwound so that the compartment wheel will not again be actuated until the compartments are filled with respective allowance money.

A ratchet wheel 32 is secured to the shaft at the bearing socket 28, see Figures 3 and 5, and a pawl 33 is pivoted on a pin 34 which projects from the plate 29. A spring 35 holds the pawl in engagement with the teeth of the ratchet wheel to permit the spring being wound up by a key 35, see Figure 8.

The key is provided with a bore 35 to receive the reduced rear end 31 of the shaft '21,. see'" Figure 3. A longitudinal rib 38 is formed in the bore of the key to enter a groove 39 formed longitudinally on the reduced end 3'! for applying the key to the shaft to wind up the spring. A cover 40 in the nature of a cylindrical shell, houses the compartment wheel and bracket 2E. The shell is provided with lugs d! on the inner periphery of its cylindrical wall, see Figure 4, the lugs being provided with respective grooves to receive guide pins 42 which project'from the rear wall of the clock I0.

For securing the cover against being removed except once a Week to replenish the compartments, a sleeve 43 is mounted on the rear end of the shaft 21, and forms a support for the hub 22 of the bracket 25. The sleeve is fixed in any preferred manner to turn as a unit with the shaft 27. The sleeve is provided with a circumferential groove 44 which receives a projection :25 on a hub 46 formed integral with the rear wall of the cover 49, see Figures 3 and 6. After the sleeve has been rotated with the compartment wheel through seven successive step movements, and the compartments have beensuccessively emptied, the projection .5 will align with a groove 47 formed longitudinally of the sleeve. The operator may now remove the cover 453 endwise along the shaft 2'1 with the groove guiding the projection until the projections fil of the cover ride off of the pins 42 of the clock and thus permit bodily removal of the cover from the compartment wheel. Thereupon the compartments may be replenished with a weeks supply of daily allowance money.

As each compartment of the compartment wheel 12 arrives at a predetermined delivery position, just laterally of the bottom of the cover 48, the door ll of the compartment is disposed at a door i8 which closes a delivery opening 40 in the cover, see Figure 4. The door is hinged at one end on a hinge pin 50 and a spring 5! is assembled with the door and pin to normally hold the door closed. The door is provided with a struck out portion forming a finger hold 52 near the free end of the door to'permit the door being manually opened to expose the door I! of the compartment from which the daily allowance is to be removed.

A foot 53 extends downwardly and rearwardly from the cover to coact with the base 53 of the clock in supporting the bank, see Figure 2. For timing the step rotation of the compartment wheel to occur once daily through a weekly time period an escapement shaft 55 is mounted in a tubular bearing 56 formed on the plate 29, see Figure 3. The outer end of the escapement shaft is equipped with an arm 51 which is disposed in the path of the pin 25 carried by the clock operated gear H. The inner end of the shaft has fixed thereto an escapement pawl 58, of the double ended type, which cooperates with an escapement tooth wheel 59, having a hub 60, which is fixed in the inner end of the cylinder I 6 by a set screw 6|, see Figure 3. A spring 52 is sleeved on the shaft 55 and has one end connected to the tubular bearing 56 and the other end disposed astride of one arm of the escapement pawl 58.

In operation the pin 25 of the gear II will engage the arm 51 at a predetermined time once every twenty-four hours to rotate the escapement shaft 55 and move the escapement pawl 58 out of engagement with the escapement wheel 59 sufiiciently to permit the compartment wheel to advance a step movement under surge of the spring 3! and dispose a respective compartment at delivery position opposite the door 48 of the cover M1. The daily allowance money may be manually removed by opening the doors of the cover and of the compartment. This sequence takes place daily throughout the week and at the end of the seventh day the spring has become unwound so that the compartment wheel will remain stationary. At this time the projection 35 has arrived at the groove 41 so that the cover ,6 may be removed endwise to expose the compartment wheel to permit the compartments to be replenished with daily allowance funds. Thereafter the cover may be replaced and the spring 3! again wound to reset the bank for the next seven day operation.

For controlling the escapement in the event the clock is an electric clock, the escapement pawl 63 is provided with an armature 64 which is disposed opposite the core 55 of an electromagnet 66, see Figure 9. Circuit wires 10 are connected to the coil of the electromagnet and to any suitable source of electricity by supply wires H. The circuit wires 10 are connected to respective resilient switch contacts 12 disposed normally in spaced relation and adapted to be moved to circuit closing position by a projection 73 on a disk 14 which is fixed to the clock operated gear 15. The projection 13 engages the contacts once every twenty-four hours to energize the electromagnets once each day for controlling the escapement pawl 63 to permit advance of the compartment wheel by step movement and heretofore described.

From the above description it is thought that the construction and operation of the invention will be fully understood without further explanation.

What is claimed is:

l. A daily allowance bank comprising, a rotatable wheel having radially disposed compartments for respective daily allowances of money, time controlled spring means for rotating the wheel by step movement at a speed to cause each compartment to deliver its contents on a respec tive day, said means becoming inactive at the end of a week time period to permit the compartments to be refilled, a key for rewinding said means to again set the wheel in motion, and means for preventing access to the compartments until the spring means becomes inactive.

2. A daily allowance bank comprising, a rotatable wheel having radially disposed compartments for respective daily allowances of money, a support for attaching the wheel to a clock, a. shaft axially disposed in the wheel for rotatably supporting the wheel, a helical spring sleeved on the shaft connected terminally to the shaft and the wheel for rotating the wheel, a ratchet and pawl device connected to the shaft permitting winding'up of the spring, an escapement device connected to the wheel confining the wheel to step movement, a clock operated arm connected to the escapement device timing the step movement of the wheel to occur once daily to cause each compartment to deliver its contents on a respective day, a removable cover for the wheel, and means operated by the Wheel for releasably locking the cover against removal from the wheel until it has made a complete cycle.

3. A daily allowance bank comprising, a rotatable wheel having radially disposed compartments for respective daily allowances of money, a skeleton support adapted to be attached to the back of a clock and having a hub, a shaft disposed axially in the wheel received at one end in and spaced from the hub, a sleeve on the shaft supporting the shaft in the hub, a circumferential groove formed in the sleeve communicating with a longitudinal slot formed in the sleeve, a cover for the wheel having a hub engaged in said circumferential groove and provided with a lug adapted to be slid outwardly in the longitudinal slot when the sleeve has been turned by the shaft to bring the lug and longitudinal, slot into alignment to permit removal of the cover, a helical spring sleeved on the shaft connected terminally to the shaft and the wheel for rotating the wheel and the sleeve, a ratchet and pawl device connected to the shaft permitting winding up of the spring by manual rotation of the shaft, and a time controlled escapement device connected to the wheel and confining the wheel to step movement daily to cause each compartment to deliver its contents on a respective day.

4. A daily allowance bank comprising, a rotatable wheel having radially disposed compartments for respective daily allowances of money, respective doors spring pressed to close the outer ends of the compartments, a support for attaching the wheel to a clock, a shaft axially disposed in the wheel for rotatably supporting the wheel, a helical spring sleeved on the shaft and connected to the shaft and the wheel for rotating the wheel, a ratchet and pawl device connected to the shaft permitting winding up of the spring, an escapement device connected to the wheel confining the wheel to step movement, a clock operated arm rotated once every twenty-four hours to engage and actuate the escapement device for timing step movement of the wheel to occur once daily and cause each compartment to arrive at delivery position on a respective day, a removable cover for the wheel and having an opening, a spring pressed door closing said opening in the cover at delivery position of the wheel, and means operated by the wheel for releasably locking the cover against removal from the wheel until it has made a complete cycle.

VIRGIL RAINER. 

